NovtMfli* I, 1884.3 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



357 



The Lahcknv of Cocoa. — We are informed that an 

 ordinance is being prepared to check the larceny of cocoa 

 which is extending to an alarming extent. On the 8th of 

 April 1882 we discussed this important question al 

 length in these columns, and strongly urged the passing 

 of some such measure as the one now proposed. The drift 

 of the law will be to trace every pound of cocoa that is 

 being sold, should any suspicion arise, and to enable any one 

 to arrest any pcrsou selling cocoa pods in less quantity than 

 three hundred pounds or cocoa beans in less quantity than 

 twenty-five pounds, or any quantity of either without a 

 delivery note. All dealers in cocoa shall be licensed by the 

 Stipendiary Magistrate. It is to be hoped that the measure 

 will, at any rate, mitigate if not check entirely, a practice 

 which has, lately, taken such extension, as to threaten 

 serious results throughout the cocoa districts. — Port-of- 

 Spain Gazette. 



Has Helopeltis Been Seen of Tea in Ceylon ? — 

 We have not, as yet, heard of any well-authentic- 

 ated case of the insects being seen and identified, and 

 we trust the superintendent of Abbotsford may be 

 mistaken as to traces of their preseuee on tea-leaves. 

 Several years ago insects like large mosquitoes were 

 observed, but they turned out to be '' daddy-longlegs." 

 Last year and this, however, numbers ot leaves have 

 been noticed which correspond to the drawing in 

 the Tea Cyclopaedia showing spots and blotches, 

 the result of the operations of the bug. No appreci- 

 able harm has been done to the tea. Specimens of 

 the spotted leaves have been, at his request, sent to 

 Dr. Trinvn, and he will probably be aide to settle 

 the question as to whether the Helopeltis Antonii, 

 although never seen, is present or has been. 

 , The Indiax Tea Industry. — The results of the working 

 of the Indian tea plantations for 1883, although exhibit- 

 ing considerable varieties in produce and cost, are never- 

 theless very fairly satisfactory, and show that a steady in- 

 crease in tea development may be looked for, although the 

 competition from China, Java, and Ceylon, may involve a 

 fall in prices. The size of the estates differs very much, 

 varying from 7,000 acres under tea cultivation in the case 

 of the Assam Company to the Borokai Company, which has 

 only 850 acres. The yield of the former was 2,569,961 lb. 

 or 339 lb. per mature acre, while that of the latter was 

 212.720 lb., or 265 1b. per acre. Nevertheless, though the 

 Borokai Company had the smallest yield of all the Indian 

 undertakings, it showed the very best results in profit per 

 acre and dividend — viz., £9 3s 7d profit and 15 per cent. The 

 Assam Company divided 14 per cent, although their profit 

 per acre was only £3 8s 5d and the cost of the tea ll^d, 

 while it sold for only Is Id per lb. In the case of the Boro- 

 kai, the tea cost Is, but it sold for Is 8d, and hence the ex- 

 cellent dividend. Next in size of acreage to the Assam 

 comes the Land Mortgage Bank of India, which has 6,645 

 acres under cultivation, though its paid-up capital (the 

 largest of all the companies) is £308,468, while the Assam 

 has only £1S7,160. The yield of the Land Mortgage Bank 

 was comparatively low, being 1,539,120 lb. or 231 lb. per 

 mature acre. The cost of the tea, too, was high at Is OJd 

 per lb. although the selling price was pretty good at Is 3|d. 

 Although things were rather against the company, which 

 was the only one that declared no dividend. The highest 

 capital per acre is in the case of the Scottish Assam which 

 is £117 ; but the yield per acre being pretty good at £337 

 and the selling price Is 4Jd per lb. this company divided 5 

 per cent dividend. Some of the yields per acre were very 

 large, as for instance, that of the Doom Dooma estate, 

 where it was 617 lb. per acre, although the tea only selling 

 at 11 ^d, probably from coarse plucking, the profit per acre 

 was only £2 12s 8d and the dividend 2§. The next largest 

 yield was from the Bon Hi Company with an acreage of but 

 875. The yield per acre was 535 lb. the cost of making but 

 10J 1, the selling price Is 2d, the result of the whole being 

 a profit per acre of £7 17s, and a dividend of 8 per cent. 

 The great varieties in Indian tea dividends is shown by the 

 fact that they were — in the case of the Laud Mortgage 

 Bank, nil; Doom Dooma, 2J ; Indian Tea Company of 

 Oachar, 3; Scottish Assam, 5; Jhanzie Tea Association, 

 Bi; Dejoo, 7; Darjeeling, 7J : Borelli, 8 ; Lebong, 9; 

 ETbrehaut, 12! ; Assam, 14 ; Borogai, 15. The varieties in 

 yield are attributed principally to atmospheric and climatic 



causes, especially to drought prevailing in t ^ - arly p-rt of 

 the season, which brought with it blight or i a visit- Hon of 

 red spider. The cost of making the tea al: differs 

 very much on different estates, ranging betwee 1 10|d and 

 lslfd, while the value perlb. varies from 11-1 to Is 8d. 

 It is satisfactory to observe that the taste f or" India tea in 

 England is steadily on the rise, so that th^rlanters have 

 good reason to expect a tolerably prosperous future.— London 

 Times. 



Forestry.— As we have good reason to believe 

 that a bill to regulate forest conservation in Ceylon 

 will be introducfd during the approaching session of 

 Council, we quote the following notice in the Pioneer 

 of a pamphlet by Dr. Brandie, the former head ot 

 the Indian Forest Department, which shows the im- 

 portance of the eiucstion : — 



It seems probable that some of Mr. Cross's sudden en- 

 thusiasm on the matter of Indian forests may have been 

 inspired by an interesting pamphlet just published by Dr. 

 Brandis, the late head of the Forest Department in this 

 country. This little book, which is a reprint of a paper 

 written for the Journal of the Scottish Arboricultural 

 Society, is excellently suited to popularize a subject in 

 which most people feel a natural interest, but which few 

 care to follow through the intricacies and technicalities of 

 the official reports. Dr. Brandis gives us the whole story 

 within the compass of a magazine article. He de- 

 scribes the gradual origin of the State system in the de- 

 struction of forests that followed on increase of agricult- 

 ture and population brought about by the prosperity of 

 the country under British Government ; the present con- 

 stitution of the Department and its working; the classi- 

 fication of forests, their botany and the values of their 

 different products and having done this he enters into 

 a consideration of the larger and more general questions 

 that underlie the whole forest policy of the Government : 

 such as the influence of forests on climate, and on soil ; 

 their effects direct — and indirect — upon the water-supply of 

 localities ; the good done to people by reserves of fuel 

 and fodder as set against the loss that may be inflicted 

 on them by protective restrictions. All these are ob- 

 viously topics of the highest interest and import- 

 ance, hut the aspect of Indian forestry that most 

 engaged Mr. Cross was naturally the financial one. 

 On this point all that lie said, it is r needless to say, is 

 fully corroborated by D. Brandis, fo the plain accounts 

 of the Department, do uort admit of being read in differ- 

 ent ways according to the predisposition of the reader . 

 but ihe latter has instituted a comparison with the resultg 

 obtained in France and Germany that makes the bear 

 record of Indian progress very much more instructive. 

 In France indeed the figures of revenue and expenditure 

 approximate with singular closeness to those of thli country. 

 The lormer is quoted by Dr. Brandis at £1,405,104 and 

 the latter at £641,508, leaving a surplus of £763 

 while the Indian forest revenue during the pi;st official 

 year amounted to £1,040,000 and the charges to about 

 £600,000. When we come to compare the areas of 

 forest, however, there is a very wide difference, the 

 French State forest covering less than 4,000, while 

 those under the Indian Government (including the 

 second class reserves) cover over 29.000 square miles. 

 And Prussia which can boast of 10,000 square miles of 

 State forest derives a net gaiu therefrom of nearly a 

 million sterling annually. ' The comparison considered 

 absolutely does not appear indeed particularly advantageous 

 to ourselves, but the distinction between the cas. s is 

 obvious, "In these countries," as Dr. Brandis writes: — 

 " regular and systematic forest management has existed 

 for several centuries, and the result may be seen in well- 

 stocked forests with a regular gradation of ages, which 

 yield large annual crops of timber and other forest pro- 

 duce. In India the first real attempt to introduce system- 

 atic forest management is bariey 30 years old." The 

 lesson of comparison is manifestly hopeful. Setting aside 

 the difference of their products, if the 4,000 miles of 

 French forest yield a greater return now than the 30,000 

 01 Indian, of what vast value should the latter be 1 

 the same system of administration has been thoroughly 

 applied to them and has had time to make the effects 

 of its working fully felt. 



